re: #7 prairiefire

I could only get “Cracked” in Kansas City as “Mad” magazine was not distributed by the magazine distributor. “Cracked” was a watered down version of “Mad” magazine, and it pissed me off in 1976.

The classic Mad, under William M. Gaines, was the stuff of legend. Gaines really was as eccentric as his magazine.
He made a practice of taking the small creative staff, the famous “gang of idiots,” with him on group vacations.
One year they were in Haiti and happened to learn that Mad’s only subscriber in that country had failed to renew his subscription. Gaines loaded the gang, 5 or 6 in number, into a minibus and they soon appeared on the former subcriber’s doorstep. They introduced themselves and demanded to know why the man had not renewed his subscription. The astounded subscriber renewed on the spot.